Rewind, Forward, Skip: Tabs of Memory to play with the Narrative Tempo
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Shipra Tholia
und
Amar Singh
Abstract
Memory narratives, like all fictional narratives, are characterized by variation in narrative pace, resulting from a variety of staging strategies. In memory literature, the change in narrative pace is particularly evident because the representation of memory encourages a variety of narrative pacing strategies – from acceleration to deceleration. A great deal of attention is given to the representation of memory content when reviewing narratology from a memory studies perspective. There is, however, one aspect that is often overlooked, namely the way in which memories themselves determine the pace of the narrative. Memory content not only affects the narrative pace in significant ways but in most cases, the representation of memory also dictates the narrative pace by employing several memory-elicited pace strategies. As part of this paper, we propose a narratological approach that emphasizes narrative pace as the basis for analyzing the memory literature related to transgenerational memory communication. This paper examines the narrative techniques in the the construction of memory-elicited narrative pace. Furthermore, this paper discusses how memory itself takes on different roles based on varying narrative paces and how memory itself can influence narrative pace. The paper uses three memory novels as case studies: Herzklappen von Johnson & Johnson by Valerie Fritsch, Briefe nach Breslau: Meine Geschichte über drei Generation by Maya Lasker-Wallfisch, and Zurück nach Berlin: wie mein Vater mit mir in seine Vergangenheit reiste by Jonathan Lichtenstein. Each of these novels focuses on the transmission of a transgenerational memory of World War II. Using examples from these novels, this paper explains how the suturing of memory content generates the five primary rhythms of narrative movement: ellipsis, summary, stretch, pause, and scene.
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© 2023 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Frontmatter
- Contributions
- Rewind, Forward, Skip: Tabs of Memory to play with the Narrative Tempo
- Reimagining the Body Without Organs Through Exchange Value in Never Let Me Go
- The stage-within-the-screen: Peter Brook’s film adaptation of King Lear
- Robert Walsers Sprachbildlichkeit: Im Trialog mit Thomas Hirschhorns Ruinen und Mark Wallingers Schattenspielen
- Nizami, Profane Love and the Melancholy Tradition: Uncovering Amor Heroes in the Indian Princess’ Tale in Seven Beauties
- Imitation and the Inimitable: Scenes of (Failing) Translation in Goethe’s Lehrjahre and Novelle
- Reviews
- Hanjo Berressem: Ökologien des Lesens. Für eine erweiterte Philologie. Bielefeld: Transcript, 2022. 146pp.
- Adrian Robanus: Romantiere: Zoopoetik bei Wieland und Wezel. Stuttgart: Metzler, 2021 (Cultural Animal Studies). 325 pp.
- Vera Zimmermann: Grenzenlos menschlich? Tierethische Positionen bei Elias Canetti, Marlen Haushofer und Brigitte Kronauer. Bielefeld: transcript, 2021. 274 S.
- Adrian Daub: The Dynastic Imagination: Family and Modernity in Nineteenth-Century Germany. London and Chicago, IL: The U of Chicago P, 2021. 253 pp.
- Annie Bourneuf: Behind the Angel of History: The Angelus Novus and Its Interleaf. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 2022. 151 pp.
- Dennis Johannßen and Dominik Zechner, eds.: Forces of Education: Walter Benjamin and the Politics of Pedagogy. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2023. 248 pp.
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Frontmatter
- Contributions
- Rewind, Forward, Skip: Tabs of Memory to play with the Narrative Tempo
- Reimagining the Body Without Organs Through Exchange Value in Never Let Me Go
- The stage-within-the-screen: Peter Brook’s film adaptation of King Lear
- Robert Walsers Sprachbildlichkeit: Im Trialog mit Thomas Hirschhorns Ruinen und Mark Wallingers Schattenspielen
- Nizami, Profane Love and the Melancholy Tradition: Uncovering Amor Heroes in the Indian Princess’ Tale in Seven Beauties
- Imitation and the Inimitable: Scenes of (Failing) Translation in Goethe’s Lehrjahre and Novelle
- Reviews
- Hanjo Berressem: Ökologien des Lesens. Für eine erweiterte Philologie. Bielefeld: Transcript, 2022. 146pp.
- Adrian Robanus: Romantiere: Zoopoetik bei Wieland und Wezel. Stuttgart: Metzler, 2021 (Cultural Animal Studies). 325 pp.
- Vera Zimmermann: Grenzenlos menschlich? Tierethische Positionen bei Elias Canetti, Marlen Haushofer und Brigitte Kronauer. Bielefeld: transcript, 2021. 274 S.
- Adrian Daub: The Dynastic Imagination: Family and Modernity in Nineteenth-Century Germany. London and Chicago, IL: The U of Chicago P, 2021. 253 pp.
- Annie Bourneuf: Behind the Angel of History: The Angelus Novus and Its Interleaf. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 2022. 151 pp.
- Dennis Johannßen and Dominik Zechner, eds.: Forces of Education: Walter Benjamin and the Politics of Pedagogy. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2023. 248 pp.
